You can now pay your property taxes with your credit card, but it is going to cost you.
The city is offering the service online for the first time ever, but London is using a third-party provider called Plastiq.
It would cost the city about 3% of every transaction to directly accept credit card payments. With Plastiq that cost is downloaded onto the person making the payment through the third party provider.
"There is no real advantage for us to accept credit card payments at the city for taxes. It's just an added cost and we don't want to add costs. If people want that option, then they will have to pay. It will not be the taxpayer paying for it," says Managing Director of Corporate Services, City Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Matrin Hayward.
Plastiq currently charges a 1.99% fee on property tax payments. However, the city and user has no control over when and if those numbers change.
"It has been around for a while and there are a number of other government institutions that use it," Hayward tells BlackburnNews.com. "We're seeing it as just a convenience thing at this point."
The Canada Revenue Agency and several cities within the Greater Toronto Area use Plastiq.
